I think I’ve been brainwashed. Sometimes it’s really hard for me to break out of the spell that has clearly been cast on me and makes me think inside a tiny little box. It’s very frustrating, especially when I’m thinking through things and I end up reaching some roadblock, I realize my own misconceptions and discordances. In a way, that’s great, that I’m able to think things over and realize something’s wrong about what I thought, on the other hand though it’s a pain in the ass.
I think digital piracy is an objectively good and moral thing to do.
That’s a bit of a hot take, I realize, but I really believe that. I’ve always been a pirate and I’ll probably continue to sail the digital seas until my death, but I’ve done it flying a couple of erroneous flags. The first, was the simple fact that I had no access to the things I was pirating. I couldn’t afford them! My parents wouldn’t buy them for me and I had no way to make money, so I couldn’t buy them. There were no movie theatres where I lived, no CD or DVD shops, no game stores, and the online services that were available were either too expensive or too inconvenient to be of any use. The only way for me to get these things was to pirate them. This is a ridiculous notion, of course. The reality is that I could buy these things if I really wanted to, it’s just that I prioritized other investments. There’s also the rather obvious fact that I could just… Not get the things at all. I mean, even if I couldn’t afford something, maybe I just shouldn’t have it! I think that particular rebuttal is terrible and wrong, but it is something I hadn’t even considered for a long time, as a kid. The second flag was something I ended up thinking a bit later in life, when I developed a more advanced (if still weak) sense of reason. It was that it was wrong to pirate, period, but I just didn’t care.
“Yes, I’m a bad person, but I don’t care.”
I think this one isn’t that bad, actually. It’s cringe and self-aggrandizing, sure, but it does make a fair point. The idea that lays in this sentiment of willing-evil is that piracy is good, actually, I just can’t put into words why it’s good. I believe that what makes something bad is our unwillingness to do it. First of all, I see morality as relative and individual, and that if we do something and don’t feel bad about it, then it cannot be wrong, by our own personal standards. Even as I said that piracy was bad, but I just didn’t care, I was admitting that piracy wasn’t bad, actually, because I didn’t care.
Still, it was very poorly worded.
Now, I fly what I believe to be the correct banner: the nobility of art. Art is meant to be shared, internalized, analysed, explored, understood, and appreciated. If art isn’t any of that, then it isn’t art, it serves no purpose it has no place it is nothing. Now, me watching a pirated show doesn’t give it any more value than some rando watching it legally, but allow me raise the point that what I’m doing by enjoying a piece of art is not a bad thing, no matter how you put it. I’m doing what is supposed to be done. How I get there doesn’t harm anyone, doesn’t cause pain or distress, and, simply put, I don’t feel bad doing it, so how can it be bad? Well, I think it isn’t. So no part of what I’m doing is bad, so what I’m doing as a whole cannot be bad. So it’s not bad. There!
I don’t deny the fact that piracy may contribute to shows getting cancelled when they don’t pull in enough capital, that not paying small artists for their work can lead their passion to become unsustainable, yes all of that is true. Then again, I raise the question of whether that should be true. Sure, what I’m participating in can have negative consequences, but should it? Should the free sharing of art have negative consequences? Should someone’s livelihood depend so intensely on selling something that should be shared regardless? Should my dollars staying in my pocket mean that a movie that should be made, isn’t? I don’t think so. I think that the way things are set up is the problem, I think that, if digital piracy causes problems, then something is wrong with the system. The way art is created and the way artists make their living is wrong. That’s what I think.
I don’t want this to sound like I’m blaming artists somehow, that’s not the point. The thing is that art should be valued, yes, but not commodified. Art shouldn’t be gate-kept by dollars it should be open and free. The fact that it isn’t is a problem. The fact there’s a debate about whether or not digital piracy is bad is indicative that there’s something out there—the way things are done—that’s bad.
Hopefully I managed to get the point across.
I realize it sounds a little weak. Some people might even think that it sounds like an excuse to continue something good, a sort of double-think. I disagree. I really think that digital piracy is a good thing for being a vehicle for the sharing of art, and that every complaint laid against piracy should be redirected towards capitalism, I guess. Not sure if capitalism is the right culprit here, necessarily, there’s a lot that capitalism can be and good is one of those things, in my opinion, even if it often fails its people. Whatever.
Yesterday I read just a bit of Babel. I liked this chapter much more, but for some reason I just didn’t finish it. Maybe I got a bit anxious and had a hard time getting through it? Not sure, not sure. Today I’ll try and give it a solid go.
Also, I came across this podcast called Timesuck. Seems really cool, though I haven’t listened to enough of it to make a definite judgement.
I had a lot of fun today.
